Please note that due to health concerns, we are holding all classes online. After you enroll, you will receive the link to join online via email about one week before your class begins. The same link will be used each week for your class.

Classes

Bring awareness practice into your everyday life. Classes are a wonderful way to cultivate a regular meditation practice or to engage with contemplation, inquiry, or deep relaxation of mind, body, senses over a longer period of time than afforded by a workshop or a retreat.

Late Spring Classes: April 27 – June 19, 2020

Meditation (MED)

Lama Palzang will introduce healing meditations and powerful prayers and mantras from the Tibetan tradition invoked for protection, healing and longevity. The mantras and prayers for protection from infectious diseases in this time of Kaliyuga will include the Vajra Armour mantra and the Mantra of A Hundred Thousand Diamond Blazes, compiled by Lama Mipham. The class will chant mantras for healing, such as the Medicine Buddha mantra, and mantras for longevity associated with the Three Deities of Long Life, Amitayus, White Tara, and Ushnisha Vijaya (Namgyalma).

Instructor: Lama Palzang. Cost: $144. Prerequisites: Three years of meditation experience or consent of the instructor.

Meditation is a way of opening our lives to the richness of experience, Tarthang Tulku writes in Openness Mind. In this kind of meditation we learn to embrace and learn from whatever we experience. Even in the most challenging times, we can cultivate this awareness. In this class, we work with meditation practices to open the mind to what is. Students will learn to look directly at the patterns of thought that trap them in tension and frustration, and work with practices to loosen and relax old strategies. These meditation practices open to a new way of being in the world.

Tarthang Tulku writes that “Meditation is the foundation of self-development and well-being.” When we are relaxed and awake, meditative awareness naturally expands. We can open ourselves to a path of self-knowledge that leads ultimately to enlightenment. In this class, we find ways to transform agitation and sleepiness to a vibrant clarity, strengthening our inner awareness so that we become more friendly with our mind.

Buddhist Studies (DHS)

Path of Liberation: Resolve for Ultimate Goodness (DHS 206)

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (April 28– June 16)

All living beings have the nature of a Buddha, yet this nature is obscured by veils of obscurations. We live in ignorance of this great treasure, like a poor, blind man, unaware that a jewel of infinite value lies buried under his hearth. Traditional teachings and practices can help us develop confidence in our ability to discover the Buddha nature within. We will study teachings on Bodhicitta (the “seed of enlightenment”) and continue to work on mind-training practices that overcome the destructive forces of anger, attachment, and ignorance in our lives.

Take a journey through the essential sutras of the Buddhist tradition. Each week we will engage key passages from the sutras complemented by silent sitting, guided contemplation, or practices that evoke the presence of the Buddha. Our intention is to contact these primary sources and to humbly bring them into dialogue with our own lives, approaching the sutras with respect, curiosity, and wonder. Readings will include selections from first, second, and third turning teachings, and will change with each term.

Learn how to chant traditional prayers in the Tibetan language. Practice materials will be provided showing the Tibetan text, phonetic pronunciation, and English translation. In addition to providing background teachings, students will be guided in the pronunciation, melody, and rhythm of selected traditional Buddhist prayers.

Kum Nye (KNR)

Advanced Kum Nye: Generating Happiness from Within (KNR 304)

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (April 28 – June 16)

Advanced Kum Nye practices relieve the tension that closes the senses and deprives the mind of joyful ease. This course focuses on attuning body and mind to inner resources for meaning and satisfaction, generating happiness that can be sustained throughout each day.

This spring semester of the ongoing Joy of Being class explores what Tarthang Tulku calls “easening”—giving ease to mind, senses, body and being. Practices heal the body and massage the mind, lessening the grasping quality that comes with perceiving and narrating experience. Loosening our identification with emotionality, anger, and pain, we become the experience of Kum Nye and open into its blessings .

Instructor: Abbe Blum. Cost: $144. Drop-in: $20/class. Prerequisites: You are welcome to join this Joy of Being class if you have prior Kum Nye experience and are interested in having Kum Nye take root in your everyday life.

This spring term of the yearlong introduction to Kum Nye is a vehicle for both new and ongoing Kum Nye students to explore their motivation for practice. Drawn from Tarthang Tulku’s first Kum Nye book, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga, we engage in exercises that promote deep relaxation, opening the senses and stimulating healing energies that explore our “body of knowledge” (27). We encourage ourselves, patiently opening into whatever takes place in our practice—from flow of feeling to holding back, from waiting to relax to welcoming the unfamiliar. We take up Tarthang Tulku’s call: “….your motive in practicing is not merely to benefit yourself. If you want to do your best for future generations of humanity, for your friends and family, you must begin by taking good care of yourself.”

Instructor: Abbe Blum. Cost: $144. Drop-ins are welcome at $20 per class. Prerequisites: Prior Kum Nye experience would be helpful but is not required.

Nyingma Psychology (NPS)

Aging Wisely: Expanding Perspective (NPS 118)

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (April 28 – May 19)

In this four week course for seniors and anyone aging we will explore the rich opportunities this stage of life can offer and how we can enhance our everyday lives. Through traditional Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma psychology and meditation practices, as well as discussions, we can reframe our experience of aging to include a deeper appreciation of what is available to us right now.

Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (April 30 – June 18)Even in the most challenging of times, we can still find ways to care for ourselves and appreciate life’s beauty. Using Tarthang Tulku’s Caring and Love of Beauty, we cultivate the resources to care more fully and open ourselves up to the possibilities of beauty, friendship, and meaningful action.

Time, Space, Knowledge (TSK)

Time, Space and Knowledge: Being Visionary and Visionary Being (TSK 112)

Wednesdays, 6:15 – 7:45 PM (April 29 – June 17)

This class is an ongoing exploration of Tarthang Tulku’s Time, Space and Knowledge vision. We will inquire into our presence as expressions of time, space, and knowledge. In a sense, what we will be doing is activating and realizing our human potential as visionary beings: our practice informs our living and our living informs our practice. The primary text is Dynamics of Time and Space, although we will also engage other works by Tarthang Tulku in the TSK series.

Reading and translation of Nargarjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation.

Instructor: Mollie Hughes. Cost: $144. Prerequisites: Intermediate Tibetan Level I, or consent of the instructor. You should have enough knowledge of Tibetan to look up words and also understand the basics of grammar. Referencing English translations for help is expected.

This advanced Tibetan course consists of continuing reading and translation in the classical Tibetan language. It is for those who already have a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and working with Tibetan texts.

Summer Classes: June 19 – August 14, 2020

Meditation (MED)

This meditation class for advanced students utilizes Kum Nye in concert with meditation practice to invigorate the body and invite deeper meditation experiences by loosening all types of physical and mental rigidity. Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche writes in Joy of Being that before meditation, we can relax deeply and touch blissful states through Kum Nye. Once bliss has served its purpose, we can let it go and rest in the relaxed calmness of meditation.

Instructor: Santosh Philip. Cost: $126. Prerequisites: Three years of meditation experience or consent of the instructor.

This practice course for experienced meditators consists primarily of silent sitting with a minimum of instruction. We will be working with a series of practices that help us gather the rich nectar of feeling and relaxation and ease us into silent sitting. Practices include “Tasting Relaxation,” “Following Sensation,” “Expanding Feeling,” and “Joyful Breath” and are sourced from Tarthang Tulku’s Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga.

Instructor: Pauline Yu. Cost: $108 (6 weeks). Prerequisites: Two years of meditation experience or consent of the instructor. This class can be taken together with the Shamatha Meditation Practice Online Intensive (MED501) on Sat, Aug. 8 (9:00 am – 5:00 pm).

This course focuses on meditative practices that develop awareness of mind, body, emotions and feelings. As we work with self-observation practices, we begin to access non-conceptual knowledge that is ordinarily obscured by the surface layers of mental events. Mind naturally becomes calmer, clearer and happier.

Buddhist Studies (DHS)

Path of Liberation: Gateway to Knowledge (DHS 207)

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (June 30 – August 11)

In Part 6 of the Path of Liberation program, we deepen our search for awakened mind through in-depth study of topics from the Gateway to Knowledge (mKhas-‘Jug) by the great Tibetan master Lama Mipham. From this traditional text we learn how deeper knowledge is transmitted in Tibetan writings. We apply its analytic teachings in contemplating inner and outer phenomena, explore teachings on correct and incorrect understanding, and examine the nature of karma and kleśa. For interested students of the essential topics in Tibetan Buddhism and for students in the Path of Liberation program.

Learn how to chant traditional prayers in the Tibetan language. Practice materials will be provided showing the Tibetan text, phonetic pronunciation, and English translation. In addition to providing background teachings, students will be guided in the pronunciation, melody, and rhythm of selected traditional Buddhist prayers. Class will not be held on July 9.

Nyingma Psychology (NPS)

Tracing the Patterns of Mind (NPS 114)

Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM (July 2 – August 13)

Tarthang Tulkuchallenges our usual ways of thinking about meditation and the nature of the mind. He asks us to move to a deeper understanding of mind and see how we have come to accept and embrace limitations that prevent access to a deeper way of knowing. In this class, we explore exercises from Dimensions of Mind that open the treasures of mind and awaken the knowledge of inner freedom.

Skillful Means (SKM)

The Skillful Means of Living: Caring about your Life (SKM 216)

Tuesdays 7:00–8:30 PM (June 30 – August 11)

Skillful Means teaches us how to apply concentration and compassion to everything we do. In paying attention to every aspect of our experience we learn to care for ourselves and others more deeply and discover a greater richness in life. A responsiveness grounded in the clarity of the heart is both the path and the goal. Open to all.

Time, Space, Knowledge (TSK)

Time, Space and Knowledge: Perspectives and Practices (TSK 112)

Wednesdays, 6:15 – 7:45 PM (July 1 – August 12)

A continuing exploration of Tarthang Tulku’s Time, Space and Knowledge vision. We inquire into our presence as expressions of time, space, and knowledge. In a sense, we are activating and realizing our human potential as visionary beings. Our practice can inform our living and our living informs our practice. The primary text is Dynamics of Time and Space, although we will also engage other works by Tarthang Tulku in the TSK series. Anyone with an interest in exploring experience on a fundamental level is welcome.

Reading and translation of Nargarjuna’s Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation.

Instructor: Mollie Hughes. Cost: $126. Prerequisites: Intermediate Tibetan Level I, or consent of the instructor. You should have enough knowledge of Tibetan to look up words and also understand the basics of grammar. Referencing English translations for help is expected.

This advanced Tibetan course consists of continuing reading and translation in the classical Tibetan language. It is for those who already have a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and working with Tibetan texts.